Marco Rubio joins POLITICO’s Dasha Burns for an exclusive interview to discuss his dual roles as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor as he navigates the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran.
Burns is later joined by Alex Bruesewitz to discuss his rise from very online Trump supporter to close adviser to the president, and why vigorous online debate has helped, not hurt, the MAGA coalition.
Plus, POLITICO diplomatic correspondent Felicia Schwartz at The Hague during the NATO Summit discusses the diplomatic efforts underway amid ceasefire talks between Israel and Iran.
Listen and subscribe to The Conversation with Dasha Burns on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Marco Rubio on his many roles, plus a chat with Trump’s ‘chief Twitter troll’ | The Conversation
ST. PAUL, Minnesota — Former President Joe Biden joined thousands of mourners Friday as former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman lay in state in the Minnesota Capitol rotunda while the man charged with killing her and her husband, and wounding a state senator and his wife, made a brief court appearance in a suicide prevention suit.
Hortman, a Democrat, is the first woman and one of fewer than 20 Minnesotans accorded the honor. She lay in state with her husband, Mark, and their golden retriever, Gilbert. Her husband was also killed in the June 14 attack, and Gilbert was seriously wounded and had to be euthanized. It was the first time a couple has lain in state at the Capitol, and the first time for a dog.
The Hortmans’ caskets and the dog’s urn were arranged in the center of the rotunda, under the Capitol dome, with law enforcement officers keeping watch on either side as thousands of people who lined up filed by. Many fought back tears as they left.
Among the first to pay their respects were Gov. Tim Walz, who has called Hortman his closest political ally, and his wife, Gwen. Biden, a Catholic, visited later in the afternoon, walking up to the velvet rope in front of the caskets, making the sign of the cross, and spending a few moments by himself in silence. He then took a knee briefly, got up, made the sign of the cross again, and walked off to greet people waiting in the wings of the rotunda.
The Capitol was open for the public from noon to 5 p.m. Friday, but officials said anyone waiting in line at 5 would be let in. House TV livestreamed the viewing. A private funeral is set for 10:30 a.m. Saturday and will be livestreamed on the Department of Public Safety’s YouTube channel.
Biden will attend the funeral, a spokesperson said. So will former Vice President Kamala Harris, though neither is expected to speak. Harris expressed her condolences earlier this week to Hortman’s adult children, and spoke with Walz, her running mate on the 2024 Democratic presidential ticket, who extended an invitation on behalf of the Hortman family, her office said.
Lisa Greene, who lives in Brooklyn Park like Hortman did, but in a different House district, said she came to the Capitol because she had so much respect for the former speaker.
“She was just amazing. Amazing woman. “And I was just so proud that she represented the city that I lived in,” Greene said in a voice choked with emotion. “She was such a leader. She could bring people together. She was so accessible. I mean, she was friendly, you could talk to her.” But, she went on to say admiringly, Hortman was also “a boss. She just knew what she was doing and she could just make things happen.”
A hearing takes a twist: The man accused of killing the Hortmans and wounding another Democratic lawmaker and his wife made a short court appearance Friday to face charges for what the chief federal prosecutor for Minnesota has called “a political assassination.” Vance Boelter, 57, of Green Isle, surrendered near his home the night of June 15 after what authorities have called the largest search in Minnesota history.
An unshaven Boelter was brought in wearing just a green padded suicide prevention suit and orange slippers. Federal defender Manny Atwal asked Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko to continue the hearing until Thursday. She said Boelter has been sleep deprived while on suicide watch in the Sherburne County Jail, and that it has been difficult to communicate with him as a result.
“Your honor, I haven’t really slept in about 12 to 14 days,” Boelter told the judge. And he denied being suicidal. “I’ve never been suicidal and I am not suicidal now.”
Atwal told the court that Boelter had been in what’s known as a “Gumby suit,” without undergarments, ever since his transfer to the jail after his first court appearance on June 16. She said the lights are on in his area 24 hours a day, doors slam frequently, the inmate in the next cell spreads feces on the walls, and the smell drifts to Boelter’s cell.
The attorney said transferring him to segregation instead, and giving him a normal jail uniform, would let him get some sleep, restore some dignity, and let him communicate better. The judge agreed.
Prosecutors did not object to the delay and said they also had concerns about the jail conditions.
The acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota, Joseph Thompson, told reporters afterward that he did not think Boelter had attempted to kill himself.
The case continues: Boelter did not enter a plea. Prosecutors need to secure a grand jury indictment first, before his arraignment, which is when a plea is normally entered.
According to the federal complaint, police video shows Boelter outside the Hortmans’ home and captures the sound of gunfire. And it says security video shows Boelter approaching the front doors of two other lawmakers’ homes dressed as a police officer.
His lawyers have declined to comment on the charges, which could carry the federal death penalty. Thompson said last week that no decision has been made. Minnesota abolished its death penalty in 1911. The Death Penalty Information Center says a federal death penalty case hasn’t been prosecuted in Minnesota in the modern era, as best as it can tell.
Boelter also faces separate murder and attempted murder charges in state court that could carry life without parole, assuming that county prosecutors get their own indictment for first-degree murder. But federal authorities intend to use their power to try Boelter first.
Other victims and alleged targets: Authorities say Boelter shot and wounded Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette, at their home in Champlin before shooting and killing the Hortmans in their home in the northern Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park, a few miles away.
Federal prosecutors allege Boelter also stopped at the homes of two other Democratic lawmakers. Prosecutors also say he listed dozens of other Democrats as potential targets, including officials in other states. Friends described Boelter as an evangelical Christian with politically conservative views. But prosecutors have declined so far to speculate on a motive.
Former U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, who successfully ran for Congress in 1996 as a crusader for gun control after a mass shooting on a New York commuter train left her husband dead and her son severely wounded, has died. She was 81.
News of her death was shared Thursday by several elected officials on her native Long Island and by Jay Jacobs, chair of the New York State Democratic Committee. Details about her death were not immediately available.
McCarthy went from political novice to one of the nation’s leading advocates for gun control legislation in the aftermath of the 1993 Long Island Rail Road massacre. However, the suburban New York Democrat found limited success against the National Rifle Association and other Second Amendment advocates.
McCarthy announced in June 2013 that she was undergoing treatment for lung cancer. She announced her retirement in January 2014.
“Mom dedicated her life to transforming personal tragedy into a powerful mission of public service,” her son, Kevin McCarthy, who survived the shooting, told Newsday. “As a tireless advocate, devoted mother, proud grandmother and courageous leader, she changed countless lives for the better. Her legacy of compassion, strength and purpose will never be forgotten.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul directed flags on all state government buildings to be flown at half-staff Friday in honor of the congresswoman.
“Representative Carolyn McCarthy was a strong advocate for gun control and an even more fierce leader,” Hochul said.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi said the nation has “lost a fierce champion.”
“Carolyn channeled her grief and loss into advocacy for change, becoming one of the most dedicated gun violence prevention advocates,” Suozzi said on X.
She became a go-to guest on national TV news shows after each ensuing gun massacre, whether it was at Columbine High School or Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Known as the “gun lady” on Capitol Hill, McCarthy said she couldn’t stop crying after learning that her former colleague, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, had been seriously wounded in a January 2011 shooting in Arizona.
“It’s like a cancer in our society,” she said of gun violence. “And if we keep doing nothing to stop it, it’s only going to spread.”
During one particularly rancorous debate over gun show loopholes in 1999, McCarthy was brought to tears at 1 a.m. on the House floor.
“I am Irish and I am not supposed to cry in front of anyone. But I made a promise a long time ago. I made a promise to my son and to my husband. If there was anything that I could do to prevent one family from going through what I have gone through then I have done my job,” she said.
“Let me go home. Let me go home,” she pleaded.
McCarthy was born in Brooklyn and grew up on Long Island. She became a nurse and later married Dennis McCarthy after meeting on a Long Island beach. They had one son, Kevin, during a tumultuous marriage in which they divorced but reconciled and remarried.
McCarthy was a Republican when, on Dec. 7, 1993, a gunman opened fire on a train car leaving New York City. By the time passengers tackled the shooter, six people were dead and 19 wounded.
She jumped into politics after her GOP congressman voted to repeal an assault weapons ban.
Her surprise victory inspired a made-for-television movie produced by Barbra Streisand. Since that first victory in 1996, McCarthy was never seriously challenged for reelection in a heavily Republican district just east of New York City.
Some critics described McCarthy as a one-issue lawmaker, a contention she bristled about, pointing to interests in improving health care and education. But she was realistic about her legacy on gun control, once telling an interviewer:
“I’ve come to peace with the fact that will be in my obituary.”
NEW YORK — Bill Moyers, the former White House press secretary who became one of television’s most honored journalists, masterfully using a visual medium to illuminate a world of ideas, died Thursday at age 91.
Moyers died in a New York City hospital, according to longtime friend Tom Johnson, the former CEO of CNN and an assistant to Moyers during Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration. Moyers’ son William said his father died at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York after a “long illness.”
Moyers’ career ranged from youthful Baptist minister to deputy director of the Peace Corps, from Johnson’s press secretary to newspaper publisher, senior news analyst for “The CBS Evening News” and chief correspondent for “CBS Reports.”
But it was for public television that Moyers produced some of TV’s most cerebral and provocative series. In hundreds of hours of PBS programs, he proved at home with subjects ranging from government corruption to modern dance, from drug addiction to media consolidation, from religion to environmental abuse.
In 1988, Moyers produced “The Secret Government” about the Iran-Contra scandal during the Reagan administration and simultaneously published a book under the same name. Around that time, he galvanized viewers with “Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth,” a series of six one-hour interviews with the prominent religious scholar. The accompanying book became a bestseller.
His televised chats with poet Robert Bly almost single-handedly launched the 1990s Men’s Movement, and his 1993 series “Healing and the Mind” had a profound impact on the medical community and on medical education.
In a medium that supposedly abhors “talking heads” — shots of subject and interviewer talking — Moyers came to specialize in just that. He once explained why: “The question is, are the talking heads thinking minds and thinking people? Are they interesting to watch? I think the most fascinating production value is the human face.”
(Softly) speaking truth to power: Demonstrating what someone called “a soft, probing style” in the native Texas accent he never lost, Moyers was a humanist who investigated the world with a calm, reasoned perspective, whatever the subject.
From some quarters, he was blasted as a liberal thanks to his links with Johnson and public television, as well as his no-holds-barred approach to investigative journalism. It was a label he didn’t necessarily deny.
“I’m an old-fashion liberal when it comes to being open and being interested in other people’s ideas,” he said during a 2004 radio interview. But Moyers preferred to term himself a “citizen journalist” operating independently, outside the establishment.
Public television (and his self-financed production company) gave him free rein to throw “the conversation of democracy open to all comers,” he said in a 2007 interview with The Associated Press.
“I think my peers in commercial television are talented and devoted journalists,” he said another time, “but they’ve chosen to work in a corporate mainstream that trims their talent to fit the corporate nature of American life. And you do not get rewarded for telling the hard truths about America in a profit-seeking environment.”
Over the years, Moyers was showered with honors, including more than 30 Emmys, 11 George Foster Peabody awards, three George Polks and, twice, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Gold Baton Award for career excellence in broadcast journalism. In 1995, he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.
From sports to sports writing: Born in Hugo, Oklahoma, on June 5, 1934, Billy Don Moyers was the son of a dirt farmer-truck driver who soon moved his family to Marshall, Texas. High school led him into journalism.
“I wanted to play football, but I was too small. But I found that by writing sports in the school newspaper, the players were always waiting around at the newsstand to see what I wrote,” he recalled.
He worked for the Marshall News Messenger at age 16. Deciding that Bill Moyers was a more appropriate byline for a sportswriter, he dropped the “y” from his name.
He graduated from the University of Texas and earned a master’s in divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was ordained and preached part time at two churches but later decided his call to the ministry “was a wrong number.”
His relationship with Johnson began when he was in college; he wrote the then-senator offering to work in his 1954 reelection campaign. Johnson was impressed and hired him for a summer job. He was back in Johnson’s employ as a personal assistant in the early 1960s and for two years, he worked at the Peace Corps, eventually becoming deputy director.
On the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Moyers was in Austin helping with the presidential trip. He flew back to Washington on Air Force One with newly sworn-in President Johnson, for whom he held various jobs over the ensuing years, including press secretary.
Moyers’ stint as presidential press secretary was marked by efforts to mend the deteriorating relationship between Johnson and the media. But the Vietnam war took its toll and Moyers resigned in December 1966.
Of his departure from the White House, he wrote later, “We had become a war government, not a reform government, and there was no creative role left for me under those circumstances.”
He conceded that he may have been “too zealous in my defense of our policies” and said he regretted criticizing journalists such as Pulitzer Prize-winner Peter Arnett, then a special correspondent with the AP, and CBS’ Morley Safer for their war coverage.
A long run on television: In 1967, Moyers became publisher of Long Island-based Newsday and concentrated on adding news analyses, investigative pieces and lively features. Within three years, the suburban daily had won two Pulitzers. He left the paper in 1970 after the ownership changed. That summer, he traveled 13,000 miles around the country and wrote a bestselling account of his odyssey: “Listening to America: a Traveler Rediscovers His Country.”
His next venture was in public television and he won critical acclaim for “Bill Moyers Journal,” a series in which interviews ranged from Gunnar Myrdal, the Swedish economist, to poet Maya Angelou. He was chief correspondent of “CBS Reports” from 1976 to 1978, went back to PBS for three years, and then was senior news analyst for CBS from 1981 to 1986.
When CBS cut back on documentaries, he returned to PBS for much less money. “If you have a skill that you can fold with your tent and go wherever you feel you have to go, you can follow your heart’s desire,” he once said.
Then in 1986, he and his wife, Judith Davidson Moyers, became their own bosses by forming Public Affairs Television, an independent shop that has not only produced programs such as the 10-hour “In Search of the Constitution,” but also paid for them through its own fundraising efforts.
His projects in the 21st century included “Now,” a weekly PBS public affairs program; a new edition of “Bill Moyers Journal” and a podcast covering racism, voting rights and the rise of Donald Trump, among other subjects.
Moyers married Judith Davidson, a college classmate, in 1954, and they raised three children, among them the author Suzanne Moyers and author-TV producer William Cope Moyers. Judith eventually became her husband’s partner, creative collaborator and president of their production company.
House GOP committees have issued new subpoenas to ActBlue, intensifying their probe of the Democratic fundraising platform.
The subpoenas are an attempt to force cooperation as ActBlue has pushed back on the congressional investigation, questioning its intentions and constitutionality after the White House launched a similar probe.
Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.), Bryan Steil (R-Wisc.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who lead the committees investigating ActBlue, issued the subpoenas Wednesday to compel a current and a former employee to testify about the platform’s fraud prevention policies.
The employees being subpoenaed had previously pushed back against voluntarily appearing before the committee, citing the White House’s investigation, and ActBlue sent the committee a defiant letter earlier this month criticizing the investigation as partisan. In subpoenaing the employees, the GOP lawmakers rejected ActBlue’s argument that the congressional investigation is being conducted at the behest of the White House probe.
ActBlue had slammed the congressional investigations in a letter this month as a “partisan effort directed at harming political opponents rather than gathering facts to assist in lawmaking efforts.” The platform and its Democratic defenders have argued that any probe into foreign donations and online fundraising should also include WinRed, the largest Republican fundraising platform.
Those Democratic complaints grew louder after President Donald Trump in April ordered the Justice Department to investigate foreign straw donations in online fundraising, citing in part the work done by the GOP-led congressional committees. That investigation is expected to carry into the fall — and ActBlue was the only company named in Trump’s order.
In the new subpoenas, however, the GOP lawmakers argue the committee is operating well within its rights, and that testimony from ActBlue could inform future campaign finance legislation. They say the House investigation is distinct from the Trump-ordered probe into the platform and that their committees have not provided any non-public information to the Justice Department.
The lawmakers also rejected ActBlue’s argument that the Constitution protects it from cooperation with the probe.
“Congress is free to choose how to conduct oversight, including which entities to examine and in what manner. A Congressional committee's decision to examine one entity and not another does not violate the Equal Protection Clause,” one of the subpoenas reads.
In a statement, ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones assailed the subpoenas as “political theater” that would “give Shakespeare a run for his money.”
“The Republican-led committees have also not addressed ActBlue’s legitimate concerns about the partisan and parallel inquiries by separate branches of the government being waged against President Trump’s and MAGA Republicans’ political opponents,” Wallace-Jones said.
ActBlue previously provided documents to the GOP committees, some voluntarily and some under subpoena. The congressional committees asked for voluntary interviews with ActBlue employees in April, according to the latest subpoenas, but the employees balked, citing in part the Justice Department probe.
Republicans have frequently leveraged their committee gavels this Congress to go after Democratic officials, including mayors and governors. The House Oversight Committee is also investigating former President Joe Biden’s mental acuity while in the White House, amid a similar probe by the Trump administration. Comer has issued a subpoena to Biden’s physician and asked a number of former top White House aides to sit down with his panel.
Prominent MAGA-aligned commentators launched xenophobic attacks on Zohran Mamdani over the 33-year-old state lawmaker’s Muslim religion following his apparent Democratic primary win in the New York City mayoral race.
In a series of posts, conservative social media personality Laura Loomer wrote “New York City will be destroyed,” Muslims will start “committing jihad all over New York” and that “NYC is about to see 9/11 2.0.”
If elected in November, Mamdani would become the first Muslim mayor in New York City’s history. And while many conservatives have criticized Mamdani’s progressive policies, others have taken aim at Mamdani for his religion.
“24 years ago a group of Muslims killed 2,753 people on 9/11,” conservative activist Charlie Kirk posted on X, referencing the number of people killed in New York. “Now a Muslim Socialist is on pace to run New York City.”
“New York City has fallen,” Donald Trump Jr. wrote, quoting a post by Michael Malice about when New Yorkers “endured 9/11 instead of voting for it.”
“After 9/11 we said ‘Never Forget.’ I think we sadly have forgotten,” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) posted on X Wednesday, accompanied by a photo of Mamdani.
Mamdani’s campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the statements.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist, won 43.5 percent of first-place votes in New York’s ranked-choice voting system. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the once-favorite to take the primary, conceded to Mamdani Tuesday night. However, the city board of elections is not expected to finalize results until early July, once ranked-choice votes are tabulated.
During the primary some of Mamdani's critics, including a super PAC backing Cuomo, said he either emboldens antisemitism or has himself espoused antisemitic views, in particular over his stance on Israel.
He has repeatedly criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza, and in a June interview with The Bulwark, Mamdani said the phrase “globalize the intifada” represented “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.” Mamdani drew heavy criticism for the statement, marking a tension point in a primary election in a city with large populations of Muslim and Jewish residents.
He has repeatedly pushed back against the antisemitism label, decrying violence against Jews in the country.
“I’ve said at every opportunity that there is no room for antisemitism in this city, in this country,” he said at an emotional press conference in the closing days of the race, adding the reason he does not have a more “visceral reaction” to being labeled that is because it has “been colored by the fact that when I speak, especially when I speak with emotion, I am then characterized by those same rivals as being a monster.”
At the same press conference, he said he has faced significant attacks because of his religion.
“I get messages that say, ‘The only good Muslim is a dead Muslim.’ I get threats on my life, on the people that I love. And I try not to talk about it,” he said at that press conference.
USA News: Nato folgt Trump: Fünf-Prozent-Ziel beschlossen
Der US-Präsident hat sich durchgesetzt: Die anderen 31 Chefs der Nato-Staaten schließen sich seinem Vorstoß an, die Verteidigungsausgaben drastisch anzuheben.Kassian Stroh (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
News zu Nahost: Iran will Zusammenarbeit mit Atomenergiebehörde aussetzen
Zwei wichtige Gremien müssen aber erst noch zustimmen. Im Gazastreifen werden sieben israelische Soldaten getötet.Julia Bergmann (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
Bundesverwaltungsgericht hebt Verbot des rechtsextremen Magazins „Compact“ auf
Die Richter verwerfen endgültig das Verbot, das die damalige Bundesinnenministerin Faeser vor einem Jahr erlassen hat.Kassian Stroh (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
Nato einigt sich bei Ausgabenziel ab 2035: Riesige Herausforderung
Von 2035 an soll jedes Mitgliedsland jährlich fünf Prozent des Bruttoinlandsprodukts in die Verteidigung investieren. Eine riesige Herausforderung.Süddeutsche Zeitung
Florian Wirtz zum FC Liverpool: 135 Millionen für garantierte Kreativität
Nach langer Anbahnung ist der Transfer von Florian Wirtz perfekt. Der Klub bekommt einen Spieler, wie er keinen hatte.Sven Haist (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
Die gar nicht so dunklen Abgründe
Segeln wir in die Dunkelheit menschlicher Abgründe? Nein. Wir segeln in Abgründe, aber diese Abgründe sind gleißend hell. Man muss nur das Licht anknipsen im Horror-Express, den man in die hinterste Ecke des Kellers verbannt hat. Das Schild darauf lautet "1933 bis 1945". Davor lehnt ein Banner: "Nie wieder Krieg, nie wieder Faschismus!" Niemand wäre auf die Idee gekommen zu sagen: "Ihr müsst wieder Krieg führen, wenn ihr die Wiederholung des Faschismus verhindern wollt. Denn die Geister aus dieser Geisterbahn leben noch. Und sie haben sich erneut materialisiert! Erschreckenderweise vor allem in den Nachkommen der Opfer von damals. In Russen und Israelis und sie nutzen diesen nach mindestens zwei Generationen verjährten Opferstatus um sich nicht nur in einen Mantel der Unangreifbarkeit zu hüllen, sondern sogar um Hilfe zu erheischen bei ihren Verbrechen. Doch damit nicht genug. Sie haben einen dritten im Bunde gefunden. Den führenden Mitstreiter gegen die Verbrechen von damals: Die USA.
Und es ist so, als hätten sie alle aus den Verbrechen von damals gelernt. Nicht etwa wie man verhindert, dass sie erneut begangen werden. Nein, man hat gelernt, sie auf die heutige Zeit anzuwenden. Alles worüber sie selbst in Nürnberg zu Gericht saßen. Verbrechen gegen den Frieden, Kriegsverbrechen und Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit.
Man kann Adornos "Es gibt kein richtiges Leben im falschen" auch darauf herunterbrechen, dass Unrecht nie Unrecht legitimieren kann. Verbrechen keine Verbrechen. Schon gar nicht, wenn sich die neuen Verbrechen nicht als Rache gegen die Täter von damals richten, sondern gegen Dritte. Bestenfalls wird dieser Zusammenhang fadenscheinig konstruiert. So wie die angeblich von Nazis beherrschte Ukraine. Da ist man dann ganz schnell im Bereich der Spiegelung, die kein Land so beherrscht und nutzt wie die Sowjetunion und ihr selbsternannter Rechtsnachfolger Russland. Vom Kreml und seinen nationalen und internationalen Propagandaoutlets werden in den politischen oder militärischen Gegner so zuverlässig eigene Motive, Absichten und Taten hineinprojiziert, vom Kindermord bis zum Atomprogramm, dass man im Umkehrschluss genau bestimmen kann, was die russische Führung getan hat, tut oder beabsichtigt zu tun.
Und alle drei Staaten haben eine herausragende imperialistische Tradition. "The land of the free", das gerade die Freiheitsstatue, die alle Verfolgten strahlend empfing, nach El Salvador deportiert, wurde auf den Leichen von Millionen Indianern errichtet, denen man das Land raubte, das man anderen großherzig anbot. Und die weltweite Verteidigung von Freiheit und Demokratie ging nicht selten mit Eigennutz und Diktatorenunterstützung einher. Und die russiche Geschichte, von der Kiewer Rus bis zu einem Reich, das nicht nur Teile Europas, sondern den halben asiatischen Kontinent einnimmt, ist nicht weniger blutbesudelt. Und Israel? Vor rund 3300 Jahren wurde Kanaan blutigst von den Israeliten erobert. Vor rund 2700 Jahren wurden sie dort wieder vertrieben. Als Juden begannen in größeren Zahlen in Palästina einzuwandern und dort schließlich einen Staat gründen wollten, lebten dort ungefähr dreißigmal so viele arabische Bewohner wie jüdische. Was gibt es für eine Rechtfertigung, nach 3000 Jahren wieder Anspruch auf ein Land zu erheben?! Man muss die Manifestation der Masseneinwanderung und Landnahme wohl rechtlich akzeptieren, soweit sie von der UN unter dem Eindruck des Holocausts als Staatsgründung besiegelt wurde. Eine moralische Legitimation kann aber weder der Glaube sein, Anspruch auf das Land zu haben, noch eine vorangegangene Eroberung, noch der überlebte Genozid. Im Gegenzug hätte Israel zumindest auch einen Palästinenserstaat zu akzeptieren. Aktuell kann man allerdings auch dort von einer Spiegelung reden. Das was Israel jahrzehntelang dem Iran und seinen Terrortruppen vorgeworfen hat, nämlich eine eliminatorische Politik, betreibt jetzt Israel. Netanjahus Minister Smotrich hat es wörtlich genauso formuliert: Israelische Souveräntität "from the river to the sea". Ein Echo der palästinensischen Forderung, die in Deutschland unter Strafe steht.
Niemand ist ein besserer Mensch, weil er Deutscher oder Amerikaner ist, Muslim oder Jude oder gar einer herbeifantasierten Rasse angehört. Wir sind bessere Menschen, wenn wir uns an ethische Grundsätze halten. Und die Grenzen dieses Verhaltens verlaufen nie entlang von Grenzen, sondern quer durch Staaten und Völker. Auch wenn das unethische Verhalten von Staaten phasenweise institutionalisiert wird. Der Anspruch auf ethisches Verhalten hat allen Menschen und allen Staaten zu gelten. Ohne Ausnahme!
Doch zurück zum Horrorexpress. Seine Stationen heißen nicht nur Machtergreifung, Kristallnacht, Mauthausen, Auschwitz, Einmarsch in Polen und Einmarsch in Russland.
Seine Stationen heißen unter anderem Entlassung jüdischer Beamter, Entzug der Zulassung jüdischer Rechtanwälte, Ausschluss jüdischer Sportler aus Vereinen, Verlust ärztlicher Zulassungen, Widerruf von Einbürgerungen, Auftrittsverbot jüdischer Künstler, Prüfungsausschluss jüdischer Studenten, Ausschluss jüdischer Journalisten, Ausschluss aus betrieblichen Führungspositionen, Rassegesetze, Entzug des Erbrechts, Vermögensanmeldungen, Kennkarte J, Umbenennung von jüdischen Straßennahmen, "Sühneleistung" für Pogrome, Gewerbeverbot, temporäres Aufenthaltsverbot im öffentlichen Raum, Zwangsverkauf von Gewerbebetrieben, Entzug von Führerscheinen, Berufsverbot für Ärzte, Radioverbot, Kündigung der Telefonanschlüsse, Büchereiverbot, Judensternpflicht, Ausreiseverbot, Aberkennung der Staatsbürgerschaft, erste Deportationen. Das alles passierte lange vor der Wannseekonferenz. Und Vergleichbares lesen, hören und sehen wir heute, bezogen auf Ukrainer:innen, aus dem Donbass, aber vor allem täglich aus den USA. Bezogen auf Migranten, Greencard-Besitzer, Schwarze, Muslime, LGBTIs oder Frauen: Entlassungen aus Führungspositionen und Behörden, Ausschluss aus Sportvereinen, Ausschluss vom Militärdienst, Entfernung aus Gedenk- und Erinnerungsstätten und Archiven, Ausschluss aus der Sozialversicherung, Entzug des Aufenthaltsrechts, Entzug der Staatsbürgerschaft, Deportation von Staatsbürgern, die falsche Gesinnung reicht für die Deportation, Verhaftungen und Deportationen im Gestapo-Stil, "Säuberung" von Bibliotheken, Ignorieren von Gerichtsurteilen, Angriffe auf nicht genehme Justiz und Angriffe auf und Ausschluss und Gleichschaltung von Medien.
Das Bedrohlichste dabei: Die Externalisierung der Deportationen. An Privatunternehmen wie Blackwater und in andere Staaten, die nicht unter die nationale Jurisdiktion fallen. So wie die Vernichtungslager des Hitler-Regimes in Polen. Und das lässt Schlimmstes befürchten! Es ist eine Milchmädchenrechnung, dass ein Regime, dass in wenigen Wochen alle staatlichen Ausgaben gen Null fährt, während es sich selbst die Taschen vollstopft, nicht lange für die Unterbringung Hunderttausender bezahlen wird. Man wir sie umbringen lassen! Erst werden ein paar verlorengehen in der Bürokratie und wenn man sich daran gewöhnt hat, werden es beständig mehr werden. Und ich wage noch eine Prognose: Ein gemeinsamer Krieg Israels und der USA gegen den Iran ist eine beschlossene Sache. Verhandlungen werden nur noch alibimäßig geführt.
Genauso wie G. W. Bush noch mit dem Irak verhandeln ließ, als der Krieg schon längst beschlossen war. Für Typen wie Trump, Musk, Putin und Netanjahu ist ein Menschenleben weniger wert als ein Fliegenschiss. Wie ein Psychologe bei den Nürnberger Prozessen sagte: Faschismus ist letztlich nichts anderes als das völlige Fehlen von Empathie. Hannah Arendt stellte fest: Das Böse ist banal. Und Hannah Arendt lieferte auch die Erklärung, warum dieses empathiebefreite Böse so erfolgreich ist: "Der ideale Untertan totalitärer Herrschaft ist nicht der überzeugte Nazi oder engagierte Kommunist, sondern Menschen, für die der Unterschied zwischen Fakten und Fiktion, wahr und falsch, nicht länger existiert." Und das ist genau die Sorte Menschen, die heute wieder regemäßig trommelnd und trompetend durch österreichische und sächsische Kleinstädte ziehen. Erst gegen die "Coronadiktatur", dann für mehr CO2 zum Wohle der Wälder und jetzt für "Frieden mit Russland".
Bürgerkrieg oder Militärputsch?
Wissenschaftler verlassen die USA wegen Trump: „Es wird zu einem Bürgerkrieg kommen“
Drei prominente Forscher kehren den USA den Rücken und wandern nach Kanada aus. Sie stufen das Land als faschistisch ein und warnen vor Zensur.www.fr.de
Stalin und Mao wären begeistert!
Trump's new loyalty test: "golden Trump bust lapel pins" - Boing Boing
Members of Trump's cabinet, as well as Congresspeople and Senators, are being instructed to wear a tribute to their inglorious, convicted felon leader.Jason Weisberger (Happy Mutants, LLC.)
Elektro - Steyr Traktor 💚
Der Stromtraktor aus dem Burgenland
Heinz Schrödl hat den legendären 15er Steyr zerlegt und völlig neu zusammengebaut: mit Elektroantrieb und einem Drehmoment, dass die Reifen durchdrehenDER STANDARD
N. E. Felibata 👽 mag das.
Trumps neue Zölle
@Easydor
ja, ich hatte auf einer schrappeligen Website eine unglückliche Erklärung zu folgendem Phänomen gelesen: "Personen, die noch keine Varizellen durchgemacht haben und nicht gegen Varizellen geimpft sind, können durch Kontakt mit der Flüssigkeit an Windpocken erkranken." (RKI) Also: man kann auch Windpocken davon kriegen.
Übrigens hatte eine Freundin Gürtelrose, das war ziemlich schmerzhaft. Ich überlege, mich impfen zu lassen.
nein, die aus den Herpes Zoster-Bläschen, also: jemand, der sich damit bei einer Gürtelrose ansteckt und noch keine Windpocken gehabt hat, bekommt dann Windpocken
Thema Ausländerkriminalität
Statistik zeigt verzerrtes Bild: Sind Ausländer wirklich krimineller als Deutsche?
Seit Jahren sind Nichtdeutsche in der Kriminalstatistik überrepräsentiert. Das heißt jedoch nicht, dass sie mehr Straftaten begehen als Deutsche. "Die Ergebnisse sind verzerrt", sagt Kriminologin Susann Prätor und erklärt, woran das liegt.n-tv NACHRICHTEN
Die längste Rede im US-Senat
The New York Times (@nytimes.com)
Senator Cory Booker, his voice still booming after more than a day spent on the Senate floor railing against the Trump administration, surpassed Strom Thurmond for the longest Senate speech on record, in an act of astonishing stamina that he framed a…Bluesky Social
Und ...
- YouTube
Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.www.youtube.com
Kanalmatrose
Als Antwort auf Deutschlandfunk (inoffiziell) • • •